


I concede, you were right about this place

by feverbeats



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:42:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25414861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: Vincent wakes up strapped down in the lab, at the ankles, upper arms, and wrists.
Relationships: Hojo/Vincent Valentine, Lucrecia Crescent/Hojo, Lucrecia Crescent/Vincent Valentine
Kudos: 12





	I concede, you were right about this place

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" by BNL, my ultimate song for these assholes.
> 
> GOD I AM EXCITED TO BE BACK IN THIS FANDOM
> 
> I HAVE LIKE SEVENTEEN YEARS OF THOUGHTS ON WHO SHOULD BANG

Vincent wakes up. It's his first day assigned to the R&D team, and he's both nervous and excited. He feels self-conscious in his suit and tie. The suit's a little big. When he's introduced to the team, he's so nervous he almost spills his drink. Professor Crescent is gorgeous and brilliant. Professor Hojo barely looks up. When he finally does, his dark eyes pierce Vincent all the way through. His mouth goes dry and he desperately takes a sip of his coffee.

*

Vincent wakes up. He knows Hojo and Lucretia are fighting. The walls in the mansion are too thin for him not to know.

"I just want you to come out with me, just once," he hears her say. "Dinner or a movie or something."

"I have work to do." Hojo's voice is strained. "This opportunity doesn't just come up every day." His faint accent is fading every day.

"We'll never publish if you work yourself to death."

There's a long silence then, and Vincent finds himself straining to hear. What are they saying or doing? They could be hurting each other or touching each other. Too late, he realizes where this train of thought will lead. He slides his hand under the covers.

Lucretia is obsessed with publishing. Vincent has heard Professor Gast tell her more than once that marrying someone from Wutai might be a liability, and Vincent wonders if that's why the engagement has been so long. Or maybe there are other reasons. A faint noise from the other side of the wall makes him move his hand faster.

By the time he determines that Lucretia is moaning in pleasure, he's almost done.

*

Vincent wakes up. Hojo is half turned away from Vincent, and his jaw looks jagged and sharp in the low light. He's drawing Vincent's blood. Vincent is dizzy, and he wonders how much he's lost.

"Nn," he says. "Professor?"

Hojo doesn't turn. "Don't move," he says. "Almost done."

It's the only time Vincent hears Jenova. Later, he won't be sure he actually heard her. But in that moment he swears she's saying _Give me blood, give me skin, give me every cell, give me everything. This lab is my temple; come pray to me._

Anyway. He's not sure he hears it.

*

Vincent wakes up next to Lucretia. He never tells Hojo that there's no chance he's Sephiroth's father.

*

Vincent wakes up strapped down in the lab, at the ankles, upper arms, and wrists. Most of the lights are off, which makes no sense. There's a sickly greenish glow coming from somewhere, but he can't work out where. He feels overheated and his mouth is dry.

"Hello?" he says. He panics for a second, unable to remember how he got here. He has to get to his gun. He has to make sure Hojo and Lucretia are okay.

"Professor?" he calls. Nothing.

Then Lucretia walks into his view. She's holding the green glow, which Vincent realizes is healing materia. "You're up," she says. "Hi." Her beautiful face looks stretched and odd in the light from the materia.

Vincent tries to swallow and says, "Yes." He realizes the materia isn't the only source of light in the room. Jenova's case is glowing a pale white-blue. She looks as dormant as ever, but the glow is new.

"Do you remember why we're here?" Lucretia asks, frowning.

Vincent shakes his head, trying to piece together the fragments of the evening. He remembers wine at dinner. Laughing. Hojo angry at something Heidegger said about Wutai. And he remembers slipping off with Lucretia. But where she wanted to slip off to was the lab, and what she wanted to do was--

Vincent pulls against the restraints.

"It's okay," Lucretia says. "I already took the blood. You're all done." Like it's nothing, she unstraps him and watches him rub his wrists. "The subject is responding really well."

Vincent's eyes are dragged back to Jenova. The glow, he thinks, is brighter. "What did we do?" he asks huskily.

Lucretia frowns. "Do you really not remember? I injected some of your blood into her. It shouldn't feel that bad. I didn't take much."

Vincent doesn't know why the tiny amount of blood loss is making his head spin with disgust.

*

Vincent wakes up.

He comes into the lab quietly, having learned his lesson about that. He moves slowly so as not to be disruptive. It's dark again, except for a faint glow.

He comes around the corner into the area where Jenova is kept and what he sees stills him in his tracks. Her case is open and she's in an entirely new position, eyes still shut, but arms wide. In front of her, Hojo and Lucretia are kneeling. For a moment, Vincent thinks they're praying. Then he comes closer and sees that they're both scribbling furiously on note pads.

Lucretia glances over her shoulder and catches sight of Vincent. "Isn't this incredible?" she asks, her voice hushed. She's so full of light and joy. Hojo, next to her, doesn't even look annoyed at Vincent for interrupting.

Vincent is frozen with horror.

*

Vincent wakes up once, twelve years in. Pure terror courses through him when he realizes he's in a coffin, but it's replaced by exhaustion. He's already lost. But why is he awake at all? Why is he _alive_?

The lid scrapes off. They're in a windowless room--still the mansion, Vincent realizes. Hojo is standing over him, holding a syringe. It's like an image from Vincent's nightmares.

"I just need a sample," Hojo says flatly, leaning forward.

Vincent reaches out with claws and fangs before blacking out.

When he wakes up, he's on a table in the same room. Hojo has his back to him. Vincent feels sick.

Hojo turns, lit only by a small, flat light on the table. He puts his hand on Vincent's chest. "Don't move," he says. "I've taken some blood already, but--I need more. I need tissue."

"Vampire," Vincent spits. He hates that Hojo's hand is still on him. He hates that he doesn't want it to move. He can feel, to his horror, that something inside him is waking up.

"It's for a good cause," Hojo says. He slides his hand down Vincent's body before pushing his shirt up. "For the child."

"My child," Vincent says, although he knows it's a lie.

Hojo's expression twists. "I'm going to take this sample or he's going to die," he snaps, fingers dancing across Vincent's stomach.

"Tie me down," Vincent growls. Furious with himself, he's half hard already. When Hojo pulls the restraints tight, it sends a jolt straight through his gut. It's been so long since anyone touched him. Parts of Hojo's face are constantly in shadow, making the whole thing more surreal. But Vincent is the monster, here.

*

Vincent wakes up. There's a light. But this one is different.


End file.
